superslomo

There are water purifying agents that are effective and don't taste like crap. I'ved brought one backpacking with me that was called (I think) Aqua Min. Two part process, chlorine based instead of iodine based. By and large, though, why would you need to worry about purifying water on a bike tour?

BigBlueToe

I stopped carrying deodorant. I usually ride alone, but when I'm with others I realize they smell just as bad as I do. But I do shower every night, if at all possible. On my first big tour down the west coast I brought a down jacket. I sent that home after three days. Now I carry a fleece vest, a long sleeve t-shirt, and a short sleeve t-shirt. At night I put those on under my rain coat. If I'm still cold I go to bed. This summer I'm planning a ride over the North Cascades Highway at the end of June (if it's open.) I'll probably bring the down jacket, then send it home at Winthrop. I'm not sure. If I end up making it all the way to the Rockies, I may still need the down jacket. Any advice?

2 pairs of bike shorts and 2 short sleeved jerseys, and one long sleeve jersey are plenty.

PurpleK

Yeah.....rethink the deodorant thing.

Johnny Vagabond

Who skips out on deodorant, out of curiosity?

Camel

When it was available I bought it. When I ran out, I used rubbing alcohol in a small prayer a couple times a day.

joseph senger

i just dont know why id bring bb tools (and crank puller), cause the only time id need them is in the boonies where there is no shop, and im sure not going to carry a replacement crank. so why bring them? just to tighten incase? im using a slined bb now, so im not as worried as i would be with shimanos 4 sider.

i think this post just shows all the reasons people bike, are all the reasons they load what they do. i want to swim and hike the country, my salamon boots and wetsuit seem heavy, but thats why i am going...a bike seems like a heavy thing to bring, but if your goal is to bike along the way...(that was stretching it sooo far), but you get my point. if you want to hit clubs along the way...bring more clothes, if you want to collect parts for your 1949 resto project, leave a compartment vacant... and so on.

maybe i just posted this cause i realized, this thread could not really function as any guide, cept maybe for tools.

great posts tho.

turtle77

Hey, easy there, thread killer!!

I've been loving this post. It really helps me to reconsider what I think is important to take on a tour. I was convinced that I was going to need to take so much crap, but this has been really insightful. I've never toured and I want to sooo bad. I'm going to try to go this spring/summer if I can, so the more insight like this I can get, the better!! Keep 'em coming!

meanderthal

CANDLE LANTERN, and WAY too many spare candles...enough to get me through War and Peace. But did I take along War and Peace? No! There was no room left after packing all those candles, which I'd deemed hard to replace on the road, yet I STILL took them. What an imbecile!! I also found that by the time I'd made camp, I was too tired to read anyway, having spent my reading time yakking with folks along the road, and having real experiences instead of escaping into the otherworld of some author.

gregw

The things I sent home were:

Off bike hiking shoes
Travel fishing pole (with micro tackle box)
Gortex rain jacket (Too heavy and hot, I bought an O2 Rainwear jacket on the road, much lighter, breaths much better and costs about 1/4 of Gortex)
I was trying to combine fishing with my bike tour and learned that biking day after day left me with little extra energy for this.

Extras needed:

Warm clothing for the Rockies, including full finger glove covers for cold rain.
More bike shorts and jerseys; I'm with cyccommute on this one, I would rather do wash in a laundromat once a week on a short day or day off. I started out doing the wash while you shower routine, but hated it.

Another clothing item not listed in this thread is arm and leg warmers. I used mine a lot, they gave me many combinations of warmth and they are also great for rain. I prefer arm warmers to a long sleeve jersey, and leg warmers are much better in rain than rain pants, for me anyway. I have the regular spandex ones, but they make them in wool and they may be even better.

Old Hammer Boy

I look at it this way: You'll never see these people again, and if you do, they'll remember you!!

58Kogswell

I realize it is not a poll, but to answer your question - I never take deodorant. I think this practice is left over from my (CO & UT) backpacking days when I saw and spoke with far fewer other people than while bike touring. I learned not to be concerned about it. If you sweat hard every day and your pores are open and ready to perform their function and if your clothes are fairly clean for me smell is not a big issue.

Perhaps because I was unconsciously looking for similarities (the known things that have already proven that they work), my bike camping and backpacking practices, equipment and routine are very similar.

I may be in a rut that I have carried over from one activity to another but I consider all suggestions (as presented here and in face-to-face conversations) from others and even try some of them but I seem to come back to aspects and practices the two activities have in common.

Biggest differences are prepared (restaurant) food and real showers when bike touring. When I backpacked two things I would often crave were M&Ms (sugar/chocolate) and Fritos (salty). Bike touring I can have either one pretty much whenever I want.

58Kogswell

I know I went on long enough already but I just wanted to add that I agree synthetic fabrics are more likely to hold the perspiration smell than cotton is. Every time you wash cotton you get completely fresh start.

Bekologist

I leave behind the big, thick, important, 'books of a lifetime' reads and only bring thin pulp. I find time to read very difficult to come by on my trips. I'm riding, hanging out, eating, or getting ready for bed, not lounging around reading for a couple of hours a day...

I've been bringing a copy of Jack Kerouac's "Lonesome Traveller" Great, on the road stuff. Ian Fleming wrote a great travelogue as well, forgot the name of that one.....

also, a water filter is usually dead weight during paved road trips, but crucial on some of my off the beaten path tours. I've taken to leaving it behind on some trips and never miss it. I do bring at least a gallon and a half carrying capacity with collapsible water bladders, and usually can load up with at least a couple of gallons of aqua for long stretches without resupply.

I do bring three pairs of bike shorts. one to wear, one for tomorrow, and one pair washed and drying on the rack from being washed the night before...and wool is a great equalizing fabric, you need less layers to handle more temperature variables. I've worn just a wool jersey and bike shorts over nearly 50 degree temperature ranges.

BRING WOOL SOCKS, not Defeets or whatever else crapola synthetic cycling socks are out there.

I leave most casual clothes behind, but will carry some thin nylon shorts and a buttonup shirt for off the bike if I plan on partying in cities, etc.. I don't care what I look like while riding or stopping for lunch & supplies, If people can't handle bicyclists in spandex, TOUGH.

On trips of a week or less i usually forego all casual clothes and just bring some jogging shorts to wear around camp.

So, I've found I don't need:

1) Big thick book.
2) Water filter- most trips.
3) Casual clothes on short trips.
4) synthetic cycling clothing (except for shell gear)